Part 3 (original) (raw)
The same dark form was crouched in the oak tree. Well, at least it seemed to him like the same dark form. His eyesight had always been poor ever since he'd looked directly at the sun as a child. He'd been sure his mother was lying about the danger, and he'd paid the price. Not that he cared that much. He'd found life far more entertaining and mysterious when you were never quite sure what something was.
Grover snapped out of his reflections as something flew into his forehead with a small thump. Reaching down to pick whatever it was off the ground, he discovered one of the dry acorns. Had the thing in the tree thrown it at him? Glancing back up, he saw the mass of shadows made corporate holding itself as still as death. With a flex of its undulating mass, it powered itself over his fence and out of his field of view. He briefly contemplated following it. It would be just like a book or movie, with an adventure thrust upon his dull uneventful life. It was this point that he remembered his wet furniture. And his hatred of the dark and rain. And his allergies. Turning his attention back to the window, he proceeded to re-enter his house and replace the window in its frame, grunting and grumbling the whole while. His labor complete, he prepared himself for the rest of his evening at home. At this point, however, to his infinite annoyance, the power went out.
Grover and his new friend slid outside into the harsh Xanadian atmosphere where another friend picked them up in a spacecraft. Views of other worlds…
Jeremy Blitz was Captain of the Research ship Xanadu, on the planet named for the ship, deep in the Omicron Eridani system. At the moment, Captain…
Grover physically woke up to the sounds of alarms and running footsteps, though he felt he had already been awake, as he had somehow seen one of his…